Get Hip With a Stick
It seems like nobody wants to steer anymore, at least not with the wheel: All the hip skippers are maneuvering with joysticks. How can you join them, short of buying a new, stick-equipped boat? SeaStar Solutions Optimus 360 joystick control is designed for retrofitting, and can be matched to many outboards from Yamaha, Mercury, Evinrude, Suzuki and Honda. With a little practice, the Optimus 360 joystick will have you pirouetting around the pilings with the best of them.
What does it take to install the Optimus 360? The outboard techs at Saunders Marine Center in Orange Beach, Alabama, recently completed a repower of a 2005 Grady-White Bimini 306 with a pair of Mercury’s new 300-hp Verados. The Grady’s owner also wanted to add an Optimus joystick. Scott Orfanello manages all of Saunders’ outboard repowers; he was the first technician on the Gulf Coast to earn Verado certification from Mercury, but despite his 25 years of experience, he needed some help for this job.
Why? SeaStar Solutions sells the Optimus 360 only to authorized dealers,
